Graduate Student,
Ph.D. Candidate

University of Delaware
Permafrost Lab
Pearson Hall 008
Newark, DE 19716
USA

Phone: (302) 831-0789
Fax: (302) 831-6654
E-mail: walegur@udel.edu


Research Interests:
Permafrost, Periglacial Geomorphology, Appalachian Mountains.

Biography:
I was born and raised in the “Concrete Jungle”, a.k.a. New York City. I earned my B.A. (1995) and M.A. (2001) degrees from the University at Albany’s Department of Geography and Planning. My thesis, “Spatial Trends of Air and Soil Temperature at High Elevations in the Appalachian Mountain Range” is based upon data collected from the Appalachian High Elevation Network (AHEN). Established in August 1996, AHEN consists of 20 climate stations designed to record air, ground surface, and soil temperature at depths of 10, 25, and 50 centimeters. The data collection sites are distributed on mountain summits, and at other high-elevation locations, along a 1500 km transect with endpoints on Crocker Mountain, Maine and Mt. Mitchell, North Carolina. My dissertation (in progress) will address the potential for contemporary occurrences of permafrost in the northern Appalachians, the likely distribution of permafrost in the Appalachians during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM), and the correspondence between the inferred occurrence of paleopermafrost during the LGM and the distribution of relict periglacial features in the Appalachian Mountain Range.